How to Receive Communion, Part 1: Receiving with Faith

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The first time I visited an Anglican church, I was afraid to go forward for communion for two reasons.

  1. First, I had no idea how you were supposed to receive it. Dip the bread? Drink the cup? Bow, kneel, make the sign of the cross? It kinda seemed like everyone was doing something different.
  2. Second, I wasn’t sure how to receive in a spiritual sense. I wasn’t sure what they meant to be doing by celebrating communion.

If you are visiting an Anglican church for the first time, you may feel the same. So here is what we believe is happening during communion in this post, and then in the next post, some instructions on how to receive.

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What is Happening during Holy Communion

We are obeying Jesus.

We are simply doing what Jesus said to do, and trusting him to make himself present to us.

  • “Do this in remembrance of me…”
  • “He was known to them in the breaking of the bread.”
  • “This is my body…This is my blood of the new covenant, shed for you.”

We aren’t intending to do any more or less than obey Jesus by taking bread, blessing it, breaking it, and giving it with the blood of his new covenant.

Baptized believers partake of and participate in the body and blood of Christ.

The Anglican Articles of Religion say that

such as rightly, worthily, and with faith, receive the same, the Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ; and likewise the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of the Blood of Christ. (Article XXVIII. Of the Lord’s Supper.)

If you believe in Jesus Christ and are baptized, you are partaking of Jesus at his holy table. This is taken straight from the letter of St Paul to the Corinthians:

the cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ (1 Cor. 10:16)?

Participation means that we are remembering Jesus’ death for us as a past event, but also receiving him right now.

Why baptism first? Because Baptism is when Christ himself initiates us into the Body of Christ. It is the sacrament of beginning, and communion is the sacrament of the ongoing.

Again, this is straight Bible.

For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body (1 Cor. 12:13).

We receive Holy Communion with faith.

Receiving with faith means that we have been baptized, that we believe in him, that we repent of our sins, and that we turn to Jesus for our salvation. It means that we believe that he will do what he promises, and that he will be present with us in the breaking of the bread.

Christ is present in Holy Communion, even if we don’t know exactly how.

We believe in something called “the real presence of Christ” which means that we know he is present in communion, but we aren’t going to require you to speculate on exactly how he does that.

Receiving with faith does not mean that you have to have a specific theology on how Christ is present through bread and wine, his body and blood. You simply believe that he is, and you are confessing that he is your Lord and Savior.

For us, the communion is an “altar call.” We are being called to the altar once again, to receive Christ. Our baptism signs and seals our salvation, and our weekly communion refreshes us with signs of his presence and grace.

Holy Communion should not be taken lightly.

Anglicans also believe in warning people, and this is because of St Paul’s letters to the Corinthians. He warned them not to receive communion “in an unworthy manner” (1 Cor. 11:27).

We believe this means that we should confess our sins, and be committed to reconciliation with others, and then come to the table. It is dangerous to come to the table unless you truly believe in Jesus.

This is not to say that you should spend sleepless nights examining the strength of your faith, and questioning your motives over and over. It is to say that if you have declared unbelief in Jesus, or are just receiving communion “for show” or something like that, that you should not receive. It is dangerous for your soul.

If you are working through some doubts, then, in fact, you should come to communion as a way to strengthen your faith.

We receive Holy Communion together.

Finally, we receive by faith together. Communion is a shared, holy meal of the gathered church. Gather with God’s people, around his table, and receive the signs of his goodness and love for you and for us.

Ready for some practical instructions?

Part 2 discusses how to actually come forward and receive communion in an Anglican church. Click here to go there.

This post originally appeared on 2013-06-03. Updated on 2018-10-05

Published on

October 5, 2018
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The Anglican Pastor

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15 Comments

I have a question. Can a “lay reader” serve Communion? I visited a small mission church who was without a Priest but had a Deacon. The Deacon had a Lay Reader serve the Communion. Is this correct practice? Thank you.

Reply

Hello Jill. In many places a Deacon can administer reserved communion, popularly called a “Deacon’s Mass”. But typically a lay person would not. Also it would normally not be a regular occurrence. Of course lay people and deacons take communion to the sick as well.

Reply

Dear Fr Greg, there is a typo at the beginning of the first blockquote, where it reads “he” rather than “the.” Thank you for the articles.

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Fixed! Thanks

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Can you take communion if you were baptized in a church which isn’t Anglican. For example a Calvinist one.

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Hi Gordon. Great question! Yes, you can. Holy Communion at most Anglican churches is open to all baptized Christians, regardless of what church they were baptized in.

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In these days of Covid, can one have wine in individual, disposable cups?

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That’s really interesting and I’m glad to hear that it is the case. I was raised Baptist, and now I am a member of a very similar denomination, the Church of the Nazarene. We also practice open communion. Thank you for clarifying this.

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My province emphasizes on confirmation by the Bishop before partaking in holy communion, is that very Anglican?

Reply

I believe it varies around the world.

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I’ve been christened myself but my wife and I didn’t go to church and never had our children christened. I visit my high church in Croydon every Sunday and take holy communion. My son who’s 30 now came with me one Sunday. He said that at C of E school he was told proudly by the other boys, you can’t take holy communion if you’re not christened!
But I remember attending another church many years before. The vicar their encouraged everyone to take holy communion as a way of accepting gods grace…
What’s the right way

Reply

Hi, Robert! Thanks for the question.

I suppose my first question would be what you mean by “christening”? If you mean baptism, then yes… the Church has historically limited the receiving of Communion only to those who have been baptized. To do otherwise is out of step with the Christian tradition, and, I would argue, out of step with Scripture. Baptism is the sacramental means by which we are united to Christ and is a necessary pre-requisite to the sacramental participation in the life of Christ and the Church (via Communion).

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Have recently been attending the Anglican church in my area. Having been raised a Catholic, had some questions regarding receiving communion. As a Catholic, I had been prepared with instruction to receive my Fiirst Holy Communion so that we understand what that meant. At the Anglican church, it appears that any age can go to the rail to receive communion. Some appeared very young and doubt they understood the significance of the sacrament. Several young children sat in front of me during the service and were not paying any attention to the service but were reading books and playing games. Yet when communion came, they went to receive it. It puzzled me why they would bother to receive the sacrament since they weren’t really engaged n the service. Maybe that is my Catholic upbringing that is causing me to question this practice. I have been hesitant to receive communion as I am dealing with a difficult time in my life and God and I are not on the same page. It just struck me that seemed disrespectful.

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Hello and thank you so much for sharing your helpful posts. I was baptised as a baby and attended Sunday school but didn’t continue going to church as my parents didn’t and I was quite a shy child. I lost my mum at Christmas in 2021 and since I’m now alone in life ( only child and single ), I’ve been reflecting on many things and on Mother’s Day this year, I felt I needed to go to church to give thanks for my mums life. I’ve been attending ever since and have joined an Alpha programme my church is running. I hope to be confirmed in May next year. I’ve been most grateful that my church offers blessings to non communicants. We have two vicars and one curate and to my surprise, a few weeks ago, as I knelt at the alter for a blessing, the vicar asked if I would like to receive communion. I was overjoyed and felt truly blessed and received communion. This week, the same vicar was leading the Eucharist but gave a blessing and didn’t offer communion and I just wondered why the vicar may have offered it in the first service given I am not yet confirmed but then didn’t offer it today. I’m hoping I did not do wrong in accepting the offer of communion when offered as I was so grateful and it so helped my faith journey. Thanks for your insight.

Reply

Paula, I’m not entirely sure why that vicar did not offer you communion after previously doing so. We don’t normally require someone to be confirmed to receive communion. He may be unclear as to whether you’ve been baptized or not. It might be best to simply have a short conversation with him.

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